Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 1/29/24

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Our Focus Lesson: The Skeletal System!

We began our study of the Human Body this week – beginning with our skeletons! Our skeletons are such an important part of our body since they hold us up, help us move, make our blood, and protect some very important organs inside of us. After this week, your child should be able to show you where their skull, spine, ribs, pelvis, femur, and humorous bones are. They can also wiggle their philanges! We put skeletons together this week, traced and labeled them, and created some extremely cute artist renditions of them!

Preschool Corner:

Preschoolers continued with their very big works this week! Our older preschoolers completed their Continent Maps that you can see hanging up in the hallway. They worked hard on these and it shows! Some of our other preschoolers tried new work activities for the very first time – like tracing a fish and completing 1-20 on the 100 Board! We’re so proud of them!

Kindergarten Corner:

Kindergarteners are busy in Writer’s Workshop! Our current unit is How To Books, and they are busy teaching their readers how to build snowmen, how to make hot chocolate, how to grow flowers, and how to be kind. Within the classroom, each Kindergarten chose a continent puzzle to trace and label as well. We’re getting ready for our upcoming in depth continent study that’s coming soon!

99 Days of School!

We are so excited to be 100 Days Smarter on Monday! Our class has been counting the days of school each day during Line Time. We practice exchanging when we get to ten units (ones) and moving them to the tens place. We practice counting by tens and ones each day. We can’t wait to rubber band all of those tens and move them to the hundreds place!

Groundhog’s Day!

We were so lucky to be able to get outside this week and introduce the concept of shadows with the sun! We learned that shadows are created by objects blocking the light source. We then furthered this study within the classroom using a flashlight and one of our geometric solids. We learned that the light needs to be behind the object to create a shadow in front of it. That if the objects gets closer to the light, the shadow gets bigger, and it gets smaller as the object moves farther away. We wrapped up our study by watching Punxsutawney Phil predict an early spring by not seeing his shadow on Friday!

Peek into Next Week!

Focus Lesson: Internal Organs

Important Dates:

February 5 – 100th Day of School!

February 15 – Valentine’s Day Celebration

February 16 – No School – Teacher Inservice

February 19 – No School – President’s Day

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 1/22/24

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Our Focus Lesson: DINOSAURS!

This was everyone’s favorite week! We learned all about Dinosaurs! Ask your child what type of teeth meat eaters and plant eaters have, see if they can tell you the special words we call each of those dinosaurs. (Hint – carnivores and herbivores.) We learned that dinosaurs lived millions of year ago and that they are now extinct. We talked about the theories scientists have about what happened to the dinosaurs, and the class decided the best theory is that there was an asteroid that hit our planet. We ended the week learning about paleontologists, and now that is the current career plan for many of our littles!

Grandparent’s Day!

A huge thank you to all of our grandparents for visiting us on Thursday! It was such a pleasure for us teachers to meet you, we always hear so much about you from the children! We hope you enjoyed your science lesson, being introduced to our classroom space, and learning all types of concepts with your wonderful grandchildren!

The 100th Day of School is Coming!

We are so close to the 100th Day of School! We will be having a 100th Day of School Party on Monday, February 5th. Your child is invited to dress up like they are 100 years old on this day. (It’s my favorite day of the school year!) We will play games, sing songs, complete a special craft, and enjoy a special picnic lunch with our friends! AMMS will be providing the pizza, but if you would like to contribute to our lunch, you can sign up here. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CA5A628A3F4CF8-47513235-100th

Fun in the Gym!

We added a new gym game to our repertoire – the parachute! We learned how to handle the parachute with care, how to keep our listening ears open while having fun, and played the best game ever – popcorn! We can’t wait to play more games with the parachute!

Art with Ms. Lindsey!

We had a special guest art teacher this week – Ms. Lindsey! Ms. Lindsey introduced us to the wonderful Piet Mondrian, an artist who worked with lines, shapes, and colors. We practiced creating our own Mondrian inspired artworks by pasting black lines onto paper and filling in the shapes with red, yellow, and blue crayons.

We’re Learning Big Things!

At this point in the school year, our Blossoms begin working on more challenging concepts in small groups or with partners, and they also begin to work on projects that can take a few days to complete. This is such an exciting time in the classroom, because these children just glow with pride when they accomplish new things! We are so proud of them!

Peek into Next Week!

Next week, we begin our study of the Human Body. We will spend several weeks learning all about our bodies – what they look like inside, how to keep them healthy, and the function of all of the different systems. It’s a popular unit of study!

Focus Lesson: The Skeletal System

Important Dates:

Monday, February 5 – 100th Day of School

Thursday, February 15 – Valentine’s Day Treat

Friday, February 16 – No School – Teacher Inservice Day

Monday, February 19 – No School – President’s Day

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 1/15/24

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Our Focus Lesson: Hibernation, Migration, and Adaptation

Brrrr this was the perfect week for our focus lesson! We spent the week learning about what animals do during the winter months. Some animals hibernate, some migrate, and some adapt. We learned what each of these terms mean, and then read about the animals that fall into each category. Ask your children what it means if an animal hibernates, migrates, or adapts. And then see if they can give you an example of an animal for each category.

Our class science experiment helped us understand blubber a little more. Blubber is just one of the ways animals can adapt to the colder temperatures of winter. We learned that some whales and seals have blubber and that it keeps the animal warm while they are in the cold waters. So what it blubber? A layer of fat underneath the animals skin that keeps them warm. We used Crisco, baggies, and ice to determine if blubber actually keeps the animal warm. When our hands were in an empty baggie, then we could feel how cold the ice was. But the baggie that had Crisco created a barrier between our hands and the ice, keeping our hands warm!

Using our senses to explore what Crisco feels like inside of the baggie.
The baggie with Crisco is keeping our hands from feeling how cold the ice is!
What a fun experiment!

Preschool Corner

Our older preschool students revisited the World Map Puzzle, reviewing the names of the continents. They also started creating their own world maps by tracing and labeling the continents. After this map, we’ll move onto the map of North America!

Kindergarten Corner

Our Kindergarteners were introduced to the concept of measuring this week. They learned what a ruler does, were introduced to inches and centimeters, and practiced measuring how tall some polar animals are. We’ll continue practicing our measuring skills over the next couple weeks.

Our Kindergarteners are also working so hard on their reading skills. They read books daily to either a teacher or a friend, but also still visit the language shelf to practice reading skills in a more hands on way. They’re practicing blends, digraphs, rhyming, and compound words!

Peek into Work Time

Practical Life continues to be an important learning area within our classroom. This area of the room grows with the child, from our youngest student to our oldest. From spooning beads to sewing snowflakes!

Peek into Next Week

Our Focus Lesson: Dinosaurs

Important Dates:

Thursday, January 25 – Grandparent’s Day

Monday, February 5 – 100th Day of School

Friday, February 16 – No School/Teacher Inservice Day

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 1/8/24

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Our Focus Lesson – The Mitten and Snowflakes

Welcome back to school! We have settled right back into our expectations and routines. This week we had our first Book Study of the school year. During a Book Study, we will read the same book every day of the week. This allows us to practice a learning topic more in depth, as well as learn different things about the story. We read The Mitten by Jan Brett this week! We focused on the sequence of the story and retelling the story in order. We noticed that Jan Brett will give the reader hints about what comes next in the illustrations. We also read other books by Jan Brett and were able to compare and contrast.

Cherry Blossoms also learned all about snowflakes this week! We learned that every snowflake begins as a speck of dirt or dust up in the cloud. Water droplets then surround the speck and freeze into a ball of ice. More water droplets join creating a hexagon shape, and from the hexagon shape will come 6 branches. The snowflake will collect more water droplets as it becomes to heavy for the cloud and begins the fall to the ground. The children know that if they hold their mitten out while it is snowing, that they can catch a snowflake and observe it before it melts!

Preschool Corner

This preschooler is working with the Moveable Alphabet. She is using her knowledge of letters and letter sounds to write the sounds she hears when she stretches the word out.
This preschooler is Making Tens with our Colored Bead Bars. This is a beginning addition work and she works to find what two bead bars equal 10 when added together.
The 100 Board is always a classroom favorite! This child mixed up all of the tiles from 1-40 at the bottom of the board and then worked to put the numbers in order. He chose to make this work more challenging for his brain on his own!

Kindergarten Corner

This Kindergartener read a total of 45 sentences including vowel teams and phonograms and matched them to the appropriate pictures. Talk about a challenging work!
This Kindergartener has learned some individual cursive letters and is ready to put those letters together to write cursive words. He’s doing great!

Enrichment Corner

An exciting day in Music Class – we started the story of Peter and the Wolf where we will learn all about the sounds different instruments make!
An exciting day in Science Class as well – one of our favorite experiments about absorption!

Fun with Friends!

Half of the fun as a teacher is observing what ideas the children will come up with on their own when given the space and the time to do so. This was not a lesson from the teacher, but an organized game that the children designed and implemented on their own through communication!

Peek into Next Week:

Focus Lesson: Adaptation, Migration, Hibernation

Important Dates:

January 25 – Grandparent’s Day – Register at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45787247-cherry#/

February 2 – 100th Day of School – more info coming home soon!

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 12/18/23

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Focus Lesson: Holidays

We spent our last week of 2023 together learning about the holidays! We discussed Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. We learned how families celebrate these holidays, what activities they do together, and symbols of their celebrations. We also created many adorable crafts this week!

Oh Snow!

Snow in Northeast Ohio has been so unpredictable the past few years, so we took the snowy opportunity this week to have a quick lesson about those wonderful white flakes! We took a trip outside to observe snow. We used four out of our five senses to explore and we determined that snow does not smell and does not sound like anything. We agreed that snow is cold, feels soft at first but after applying pressure it is hard! We asked the scientific question – what would happen if we brought a bucket of snow inside? The next day, we learned why we don’t eat snow off the ground – there was so much dirt left behind after it melted! We had a quick beginning lesson on the water cycle (which we’ll learn more about in the spring!) and learned that snow and rain are both water, but we’ll only see snow if it is cold enough outside. We also learned that snow is made up of ice crystals that stick together – we’ll talk more about this when we return in January!

Ms. Tonya’s Morning in Elementary!

I was able to work with some of my past students this week when I was invited to spend the morning with the Birth Classroom! I received a math lesson, a cultural lesson, and a language lesson from these amazing elementary students. They taught me the work activity and then I had to complete the work on my own. It was so neat to be on the other side of the work mat! I had such a wonderful time and can’t wait to visit again!

Merry Christmas!

We had such a wonderful time this week celebrating with our friends this week! Ms. Sam and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your families and that your child enjoys winter break! We’ll see you on Monday, January 8th!

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 12/11/23

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Focus Lesson: The Christmas Show

We spent the majority of this week preparing for our Christmas Show! We practiced with the whole school several times, while also practicing in our classroom. We are so excited for you to see our show, we’ve worked so hard to make is wonderful for you!

What is Happening Outside?

We took a Nature Walk outside this week to see what is happening outside. We observed that there were places outside with lots of snow and places without much snow. Where the snow was on the ground, the ground felt “crunchy” to us. Where there wasn’t much snow, the ground felt “squishy” to us. We discussed why there would be snow in places that did not recieve a lot of sun, what happens to the snow when it melts, and why the ground would feel different to our feet.

Peek into our Work Time!

It was a Handwriting week in the Blossom classroom! While our work materials are designed to strengthen the fine motor skills in preparation for handwriting, we also practice our handwriting skills with a pencil, and focus on appropriate pencil grip.

This child is working on writing a straight line and practicing his pencil grip.
This child is working with what we call “precursive booklets”, where we practice strokes that we will later use when forming our cursive letters.
There are two things happening on this child’s dry erase board! You’ll see she has written a string of letters at the top, which is one of the ways children present Emergent Handwriting skills. She is also copy writing at the bottom of her board, another part of Emergent Handwriting skills!
This child is ready to write her name in cursive! She is tracing her name here, but I’m sure she’ll be writing it on her own in no time!
Where is your child in the Stages of Handwriting?

Peek into Next Week!

Thursday, December 21: Last Day of School before Winter Break! Children should wear their pajamas and bring a Show & Tell that will fit inside of their backpack! (If your child does not attend school on Thursdays, they may bring their Show & Tell on Wednesday.)

December 22 – January 7: Winter Break! See you on Monday, January 8th!

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 12/4/23

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Our Focus Lesson: Amphibians

We wrapped up our Animal Classification unit this week by studying amphibians. What makes an amphibian an amphibian? We learned that amphibians are vertebrates, cold blooded, hatch from jelly eggs and that they have permeable skin (which means amphibians need to stay by the water because they drink water through their skin). We also learned that amphibians will live both in the water and on land throughout their lifetime and that they go through a big change called metamorphosis. We really enjoyed our Animal Classification unit! We’ll be revisiting these animal groups all year long as we learn what they’ll do now that the weather is cold, and what they’ll do in the spring.

The Christmas Show!

Our Christmas Show is fast approaching and we are busy preparing! This coming week will be a busy week for all of us, make sure your child is getting plenty of rest to prepare. Wednesday is our Rehearsal. This is not a dress rehearsal, but we will be walking through the entire program so your child is comfortable with the transitions and what to expect. Friday is our Christmas Show! Have your child wear blues, whites, or grays, a scarf, and rubber soled shoes (no heels or boots, please). Please have your child use the restroom before you drop them off with their teachers by 5:30pm!

A Peek into Work Time!

This Kindergartener is working with the Ten Cube Chain. Cube Chains allow the child to count multiples of numbers linearly.
This child is practicing quantity with her numerals out of order. We change the cards and counters throughout the seasons to keep this work interesting to the child. Counting small presents and placing them under the tree sure is fun!
This child is working with our Numbers and Counters. Not only is she practicing counting our the correct quantity, but she is also getting an introduction to even and odd numbers by visually seeing if each counter has a “partner”.
These preschool students are ready for cursive handwriting! They all have beautiful print handwriting, and are ready for a new fine motor challenge.

Peek into Next Week!

We will be spending the next two weeks enjoying our time together and learning about the Holidays that are celebrated this time of year. We can’t believe that it is almost time for Winter Break! This school year is flying by!

Wednesday 12/13: Christmas Show Rehearsal – arrive by 5:45pm

Friday 12/15: Christmas Show – arrive by 5:30pm

12/21: Pajama Day!

12/22-1/7: Winter Break! School resumes on Monday, 1/8

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 11/27/23

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Our Focus Lesson: Fish

We jumped right back into our Animal Classification lessons after the holiday, and studied fish this week! What makes a fish a fish? We learned that fish are vertebrates, they must live in the water, they breathe using gills, they’re covered in scales, they’re cold blooded, and they lay jelly like eggs (which means they’re sticky).

Getting Ready for the Holidays!

We are busy in the classroom preparing for the upcoming holidays! Children started creating gifts for their parents (shhh… we won’t tell!), and are practicing daily for the Christmas Show! Our theme for the Christmas Show is snow. Your child will need to wear clothing that is blue, white, or gray, and a scarf. We will provide your child with a snowflake headband to wear for the show.

Curriculum Spotlight: ASL

We always love the Fridays when we have an ASL lesson. This week we learned how to sign various holiday theme signs such as reindeer, sleigh, toys, presents, and Santa! We also reviewed some important communication signs such as more, help, please, thank you, and I Love You.

Signing “sleigh”!

Peek into Work Time!

This Preschooler is working with one of our I Spy boxes. These boxes contain various small objects, the child then sorts the objects by isolating the beginning sound and matching the same sound.
This Preschooler is doing so well with isolating beginning sounds, that she is now ready for our Sound Pouches. With Sound Pouches we assist the child with associating the letter sound to the symbol. After they have a solid understanding of that concept, the pouches also contain pictures of various objects, and the child is now matching the object to the letter.
This preschooler started reading this week! She is working with Phonics Folders to practice blending letter sounds together in order to read the word.
This preschooler is working with our CVC pictures and words. Each set focuses on one vowel sound, and the child reads the word then matches it to the corresponding picture.
This Kindergartener was introduced to Consonant Blends this week! He’s learning that two consonants together can make a new sound!

Peek into Next Week!

Focus Lesson: Amphibians

Important Dates:

December 13: Christmas Show Rehearsal

December 15: Christmas Show

December 21: Pajama Day

December 22-January 7: Winter Break

January 8: School Resumes

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 11/20/23

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Focus Lesson: Thanksgiving and Gratefulness

This short week, we focused our lessons on Thanksgiving and what it means to be grateful. We discussed the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, which led us into our discussion on gratefulness. We brainstormed all of the things we are grateful for which includes family, friends, and pets! We also talked about yummy Thanksgiving foods and our family traditions. It was a super fun short week here in the Blossoms classroom!

Thanksgiving Inspired Work Activities!

This preschooler is practicing table setting.
This preschooler is using a ladel to move pom poms from one container to another.
We learned that Native Americans did not write messages using letters the way that we do now, and that they communicated through pictures. This preschooler is practicing copy writing, by copying the symbols at the top of the page.
This preschooler is using a baster to move water from one container to another. I wonder if the children will recognize this kitchen tool if you use it this weekend.
This preschooler is grasping feathers, just one of the many ways we strengthen the hand muscles for writing.
This Kindergartener is practicing reading sentences and matching the sentence to its corresponding picture.
This preschooler is practicing his addition facts with turkeys!
This preschooler is tonging Indian Corn and sorting them by color.
These Kindergarteners are working together to read the Thanksgiving inspired word and match it to the picture.
This preschooler is creating a turkey craft.
We also made these adorable turkeys to take home!

The Time of Year to Spend with Family and Friends.

We ended the week by spending time with our friends from Aspen and Buckeye! We watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and enjoyed a special snack of popcorn and pretzels!

“Gobble Gobble!”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ms. Sam and I wish your family a wonderful holiday, and hope you are able to spend this time with family and friends. We also hope that you get a moment to relax! We are so thankful for all of you! – Ms. Tonya

Peek into Next Week:

Focus Lesson: Fish

Important Dates:

December 13: Christmas Show Rehearsal

December 15: Christmas Show

December 21: Pajama Day

December 22-January 7: Winter Break

January 8: School Resumes

Peek into our Week – Cherry Blossoms – week of 11/13/23

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Focus Lesson: Reptiles

We continued our vertebrate animal study this week by learning all about Reptiles.

What makes a reptile a reptile? Reptiles are cold blooded, have dry scaly skin, lay soft shelled eggs, (most) do not take care of their babies, and they breathe with lungs. We learned that there are so many neat things that reptiles can do! Snakes can smell with their tongues. Chameleons can change color depending on how they are feeling. Some lizards can detach their tails and grow new ones. However, our favorite reptile to learn about was the sea turtle! We really loved reptile week!

Preschool Corner:

This preschooler is copy writing, using the month label on our calendar!
This preschooler is working with our Colored Bead Bars. She is matching quantity to symbol.
Look at that proud smile as this preschooler works with our Spindle Box to practice quantity and symbol.

Kindergarten Corner:

Another proud smile from this Kindergartener as he works with our Square Chains from the Bead Cabinet. He is practicing the multiples for 9, 8, 7, and 6!

Operation Christmas Child:

We participated in Operation Christmas Child on Friday. We were able to pack a shoebox full of gifts, such as fun toys, school supplies, and personal care items and a letter that we wrote! These boxes will be delivered to children in need around the world! We are so grateful that we were able to help others this holiday season!

Come work with us!!!

Bring Your Parent to Work Days begin on Monday! If you are able to, sign up for a time slot on one of our allotted days and come work with us! Visits are approximately 30 minutes, and you will be able to observe the classroom as a whole for about 15 minutes and then work alongside your child for another 15-20 minutes. It is a wonderful way to experience our classroom setting and spend some very special time with your child! Sign up at the link below!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-45382631-cherry#/

Peek into Next Week:

Focus Lesson: Thankfulness

November 22-24: No School! Happy Thanksgiving!

December 13: Christmas Show Rehearsal

December 15: Christmas Show

December 22-January 7: Winter Break! School resumes Monday, January 8th.